Composite laminates are commonly implemented in aircraft and other structures. For example, an aircraft may include numerous composite laminates implemented as stringers for a wing assembly of the aircraft. A composite laminate may contain one or more out-of-plane wrinkle(s) (e.g., one or more internal material wrinkle(s) formed and/or extending along a thickness dimension of the composite laminate) that are not visible and/or not exposed on any external surface of the composite laminate.
The height of an out-of-plane wrinkle may be used to predict the performance of the out-of-plane wrinkle and/or the performance of the composite laminate in which the out-of-plane wrinkle is present. With the out-of-plane wrinkle being located internally and/or within the composite laminate, the process of determining the height of the out-of-plane wrinkle conventionally requires cutting the composite laminate parallel to its thickness dimension. In response to cutting the composite laminate in this manner, the out-of-plane wrinkle may become visible and/or exposed on a newly-formed external surface of the composite laminate, thereby enabling an optical measurement of the out-of-plane wrinkle. Conventional techniques for measuring an out-of-plane wrinkle in a composite laminate are accordingly disadvantageous in that such techniques result in the destruction and/or physical alteration of the composite laminate.